Just started trial of levothyroxine, now I'm worried

Gluten is a small protein found in wheat, rye and barley that triggers the auto-immune response that results in Hashimoto's and Grave's diseases. If you have thyroid disease, you have one of these. So avoiding gluten is extremely important to saving your thyroid! Going gluten-free will also help calm down your immune system so you won't react as much to other foods.

Floride is in the same group of chemicals as iodine and jams up the thyroid because it has a higher binding power than iodine, so best to avoid, or use limited amounts. I still use regular toothpaste but take boron to help strengthen my teeth rather than floride rinse.

On the meds... Most people here have had bad reactions to them on this site. However, if you have not, you may not. If you have food sensitivities, you want to be sure your meds are free of triggers like corn, acacia, wheat and dyes that will further irritate your system, Doctors usually overlook this unless you specifically ask them for meds without "junk" additives.

After years of treating my thyroid disease, I have recently discovered I also have adrenal exhaustion, addison's, whatever. So it seems the adrenals and the thyroid work together and when one goes out the other eventually does as well. I recently started some herbs for the adrenals and am feeling much better after only a week. So I would certainly recommend making sure your adrenals are healthy. You'll notice in the info sheet that comes with the thyroid meds there's a statement about not taking thyroid meds if there's an adrenal problem. But doctors don't ever test the adrenals before giving the thyroid meds. Assumably because they don't have meds for the adrenals.

Lastly, if you have been diagnosed with thyroid disease, I don't recommend going off meds. You need them, just like a diabetic needs insulin becuase your body isn't making enough thyroxin. So you MUST take some sort of thyroxin!!!! None of it is perfect. The oldest synthetic meds were put on the market 60+ years ago and were never clinically tested. Newer ones were approved based on their equivalency to the existing ones. So pretty much none of them have been properly tested. Unless it specifically says NDT (natural dessicated thyroid) you are getting synthetic, which doesn't work the same for a lot of people. The labeling of the synthetic with the same name as the natural is no longer allowed. This also makes it confusing for patients to know what they are taking.

The natural (NDT) pharmaceutical is from pigs and has a different ratio of T4-T3 than humans, but still works way better than the synthetic products. There are some websites that sell natural organic over the counter natural (non-pharma). There's a lot of fear about using these because they aren't "regulated". However, pharma grade thyroid meds are allowed a 10% deviation from the label, so  you could be geetting as much as a 20% difference between prescriptions. Because of this, I consider the natural non-pharma just as reliable.  If I didn't need such a high dose (I'm on nearly 200mcgm /day), that would be my first thing to try. You can get it in either cow or pig, The non pharmaceutical is probably the best choice if you're on a low dose because you can get the organic, and you have a choice of pig or cow (porcine, or bovine). The completely natural also has traces of various T1, T2, and others as well as the T3 and T4 you get in the pharmaceutical grade. The other thyroxins should help. Makes sense that if you're not producing thyroxin, you need all types. Your body naturally converts the T4 to T3 as needed, but many people don't convert well, so do much better with the T4/T3  together. I assume the T4 also converts to the other Ts as needed, but not if you're already having a ton of problems. I'd recommend the natural non-pharma for the above reasons and because you can self-regulate, rather than always depending on a doctor and thier oppinion, being captive to blood tests, etc. As with everything, natural is ALWAYS better.

Finally, for me, with the meds, without the meds, I tend to have migraines that are bad if the meds are too low, seem to be triggered by the meds, etc. I'm kind of to the point where I figure that's just part of it.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Catherine